There is a need for an efficient, cost-competitive technology to manufacture a renewable and biodegradable thermal insulation material for cold climate regions.
Polymeric foams, such as polystyrene and polyurethane, are commonly used for thermal insulation in infrastructure and housing construction in cold climates. These hydrocarbon-based materials are lightweight, hydrophobic, and resistant to photolysis. Polymeric foams do not decompose after the end of their intended use, and are problematic with respect to recycling and reuse. These polymeric foams are non-renewable and their production and use involve complex manufacturing processes, substantial energy inputs and associated waste streams. Polymeric foams have been shown to leach out or off-gas several toxins, which can bio-accumulate in fish and wildlife, presenting a well-documented environmental health problem. In most cold regions the construction materials are shipped in from the manufacturing centers, adding to an already large negative environmental effect of the polymeric insulation foams.
A renewable and biodegradable alternative to these conventional thermal insulation materials can substantially reduce environmental and health burdens of construction and promote sustainable infrastructure development. Biodegradable and renewable insulation materials are of interest to construction industry in the cold regions and globally for a range of applications. Such materials can serve as replacements for the petroleum-based polymers for a range of applications and offer several advantages over polymeric foams, including freedom from petroleum products, low energy inputs and low cost of production, fast renewability, carbon capture and storage, and bio-degradability at end of use. Though there have been a number of strategies developed to produce eco-friendly materials from mycelium by combining various fungi species with different types of biomass, their disadvantages in the fragile Arctic ecosystems range from the potential of introducing an exotic species of fungi that may negatively affect the local ecosystems, to being too slow and costly to produce, especially in the cold environments.
Due to the high cost of the transportation of the polymeric foam and due to the lack of recycling and landfill services for its disposal in the many areas of the Circumpolar North, local production of a cost-competitive, renewable, and biodegradable insulation material could be the most sustainable approach to meeting the needs of the infrastructure and population needs.